


Figures dancing gracefully, across my memory...

by midas_touch_of_angst



Category: Animaniacs
Genre: ADHD, Alternate Universe - Fae, Autism, Autism Spectrum, Backstory, Canon Backstory, Character Study, Fae & Fairies, Fae Magic, Found Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Introspection, Sibling Bonding, Sibling Love, Siblings, Speculation, THIS WAS GOING TO BE ONE CHAPTER HOW DID I--
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-12 09:33:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 19,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28508262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midas_touch_of_angst/pseuds/midas_touch_of_angst
Summary: If you don't have the proper training, the longer you spend in one world, the more you forget the other. So the longer they stayed in Burbank, the more they forget about Acme Falls. But they remembered bits and pieces- they recalled who they trusted and who they didn't; that they'd come here for a reason, something to do with the fact they felt like the water tower was the closest thing to home they could get; the fact they had a family once, no matter what the studio said.And the fact that it was in their nature to deliver justice through wild magic and hilarious wordplay.[Extention of the Fae!Warners theory, bringing in the canon of the original show, reboot, and Wakko's Wish.]
Relationships: Dot Warner & Wakko Warner, Dot Warner & Wakko Warner & Yakko Warner, Dot Warner & Yakko Warner, Wakko Warner & Yakko Warner
Comments: 17
Kudos: 74





	1. Far Away

Yakko always remembered where his family’s circle was, even as other memories faded and vanished. 

It was in the grass, near the broken water tower the children had begun living in after discovering it was marginally warmer than the remains of the orphanage. It was a bit of a walk, but Yakko visited as often as he could, and he brought his siblings along, though he had a hard time explaining why. He knew it was far from their old home, for their own safety, so sometimes he’d wonder if maybe everything horrible had happened just to bring them back, so that they could take care of the circle. 

Like most circles of the fae, it couldn’t be seen, but nature found a way to mark it anyway. Bright mushrooms that glowed in the dark and somehow survived the frosts of Warnerstock’s bitterest winters edged around the border, and the grass inside was always a green that seemed to shine if you looked at it out of the corner of your eye. When Yakko mentioned that to his siblings first, he remembered Wakko and Dot had spent the next ten minutes attempting to see how close they could look at the circle without the shine disappearing, leading to the point of them spinning their heads around like owls, then banging together and falling to the ground. Then they’d laughed and laughed and forgotten that they hadn’t eaten all day. 

They lived in the town of Acme Falls, just a short walk from the circle. They’d lived there since their orphaning. Wakko and Dot remembered none of it, having been barely toddlers. Yakko… he didn’t remember it all, but he remembered enough, and most of it at night, when the shadows couldn’t be kept away. 

Once, he’d gotten a candle as a chanukah present from Slappy, and one night he’d been so close to tears he’d lit it, though he’d been saving it for emergency travel. To his surprise, the flame talked to him- though the surprise faded quickly, things like that just kind of…  _ happened _ around his siblings. 

“Oh.” the flame had said, with a child’s voice. “You’re one of the fae, huh? Neat-o!” 

Yakko bit his lip. He thought he remembered being called that, once. Nice to know his species at least. “Yeah.”

“You need to get some writing done? I work  _ great  _ with writers!” 

“I’ll have to remember that, I sure do love a good story. But, not tonight, I was just… not liking the dark.” 

“Ah.” the flame then whispered, almost conspiratorially, “Truth be told, I don’t trust that dark much either. But it’s plenty scared of me, so you have nothing to fear!” 

Yakko smiled. “Til one of us falls asleep.” 

“How about a deal, mister? I’ll keep you safe til you fall asleep. I won’t pass out first, promise.” 

Yakko didn’t know if the flame would be able to keep their promise, but he smiled anyway and nodded and the flame showed him how to make the shadows dance across the wall. Yakko talked about his siblings, how proud he was of them, of how they deserved so much better. 

“Don’t’cha have other family?” 

Yakko bit his lip. “They’re gone.” 

He didn’t remember much, it was true, but when he closed his eyes, even the flame couldn’t push away that darkness. And he closed his eyes, then, and images flashed in his head of more fire,  _ much _ more fire, covering the floor, spreading… 

“You don’t spread, do you, little mx flame?” Yakko asked. 

“Nope! I stay on the candle! Well, unless I fall, and then my evil cousins escape, but it doesn’t seem very windy tonight and you seem  _ very  _ careful, so I wouldn’t worry about it.” 

“Ah.”

“Are you thinking about wildfires?”

“Housefires.” 

“Oh, those are scary. I can’t imagine wanting to be that big. How can you control your arms? No thanks, I’m gonna stay right here!” 

Thank God. Yakko curled under his short blanket and said, “Do you ever get scared to go to sleep?”

“Not really.” the flame then noticed his face. “But I’ve been around a lot of people who were. And I think the best thing to remember is that no matter how scary your dream is, you’ll always wake up!” 

“Sure. Yeah.” Yakko nodded, huddling up. 

But the flame didn’t have dreams of the past, dreams that used to be real and still remained a threat. Dreams that reminded him of the night he’d awoken, at the age of five, hearing screaming from the hallway. He’d been kept in the dark about everything happening the last few days, hadn’t seen his dad since he’d thrown up at dinner a few weeks before. He was tired of not being told things, thought he was all grown up, and so he’d thrown on his overalls (all by himself!) and wandered out into the hallway. He avoided hallways with the louder shouts, not wanting to hurt his ears, but still tried to find  _ someone _ who could explain what was going on. Sometimes people in armor rushed past him without even looking, without seeing the small child who still sometimes held out his arms to balance himself. 

Eventually Yakko sat down on a fluffy rug, thinking about where to go next, and then… that part was blank, but he remembered a man came, someone he didn’t recognize, told him that they needed to go somewhere, something about his parents, something about his siblings, and Yakko listened, because why  _ wouldn’t he?  _ Everyone he’d met til then had been kind. 

So when the man eventually took him into a dark room and pulled a sharp sword to his throat, Yakko was frozen for a good few minutes, still trying to process what was going on, his body struggling to react. And then his mother came in, and that’s when he started to cry. 

Yakko didn’t remember much about his mother anymore. He remembered what he believed was the important things- her name was the same as Dot’s, but father had called her Angel for short, because she was his angel come to bless him or something sappy like that. She was very athletic, he remembered a day where she spent the afternoon walking on the walls and ceiling to “get a better view for the redecorations.” He remembered she’d had a garden that she loved, with both beautiful endangered species and plants that could eat you, because she thought it was always good to keep people on their toes. His most prominent memory, before the final one, was of one day, when Wakko was still a baby, and he’d smiled at Yakko for the first time, and Yakko got excited and started bouncing and flapping his hands, up and down and up and down. He didn’t know why, the repetitive movement just sent a thrill to his mind. Mother had come in, then, and her eyes lit up upon seeing Yakko’s excitement, and she immediately began to bounce and flap as well, and then baby Wakko had decided to get in on the action, which had excited Angel even more, and they’d ended up on the floor and laughing. 

Wakko had ended up a lot like her. Except he’d never realize that. 

Yakko remembered crying so hard he couldn’t breathe, could barely hear. His mother had ended up crying, too, which just made him feel worse, and at one point he remembered quieting for just a second to take a breath, and then he heard her say, “I’ll surrender, I promise, just let him go.” 

He remembered soft words, then, with her hand brushing against his ear, and she’d whispered, “Go get your siblings and run. I’ll find you. Protect your siblings until I do.” 

She’d never found them. 

He remembered running, running as fast as he could, and finding the nursery and forcing Wakko awake, telling him they had to leave and to please hold his hand and not let go, and picking up Dot, who was half as big as him, trying to keep her asleep, but she’d started crying halfway down the hall. They’d run as fast as they could and they’d gotten out and as far as they could. Yakko went to the one place he thought they might be safe, the town near the circle,  _ their _ circle, the one their parents had taken them to every now and again to tend to. 

The people in the town eventually found them waiting by the circle and took them to the orphanage. Yakko remembered curious glances between kids, significant looks between nurses. Some of them definitely recognized them, knew who they were, but said nothing, even when their kingdom fell, when the new army marched through and asked questions. The children would be hidden away until the soldiers left, and nobody would speak of it again. 

Yakko couldn’t fault the town, even after everything started going horribly, after food became scarce and the town’s economy dwindled, and he had to watch his siblings go hungry day after day. It wasn’t the fault of Acme Falls, everyone did their best to help each other. With what little food they had, everyone would still have scraps for the kids and the street animals, and it took Yakko three years to realize every household had worked out a schedule between themselves, and when he’d gotten the nerve to ask Hello Nurse about it, she’d shushed him and told him not to worry about a thing. 

“We’re responsible for each other in times like this.” she’d said, wrapping his scarf tighter around him. “Okay? That’s what family does.” 

Everyone did seem like a family. The town was small enough that everyone knew each others’ names, were on a good enough basis they could sometimes just drop by to borrow some tools and the neighbor in question would trust that their property would be back by morning. 

There were Pinky and the Brain, who were probably married? The kids weren’t really sure. Pinky might’ve been dating a horse but, well, polyamory wasn’t uncommon in their world. They were two small mice, small enough that if they were having trouble walking in a snowstorm then Wakko could just pick them up and carry them home. Brain kept mumbling about taking over the world and sometimes he would show up in town with an outrageous plot that kept them entertained all day, and Pinky was a bundle of fun and energy. When Wakko was seven, he’d consistently repeated “Narf” because he’d heard Pinky do the same. And though those two were wrapped in their own world, even they cared about their town and the children. Pinky left them gifts every christmas, and once on Dot’s birthday Brain made her a replica of her favorite flower that would never wilt, and she’d worn it in her hairband since. 

There was Slappy, who claimed to hate people and yet taught the children how to aim properly when throwing explosives and let them stay at her tree when the water tower was too cold. There was Skippy, just a little younger than Wakko and Dot, who always had a smile on his face and a bounce in his step, dragging the kids out to play jump rope with him on summer days. 

There were Rita and Runt, on the street like the children. They were a cat and a dog, came to the town fairly recently, but fit right in, though they mostly stuck to themselves. Sometimes, when Dot cried, Rita would come over and rub against her until she cheered up, and sometimes Wakko would fall asleep against Runt after a day of working, and Runt would manage to drag him home and then curl against him to act as a blanket. 

There was Dr Sratchansniff and Hello Nurse, the only medical professionals left in the town, and even they didn’t have many supplies left and were resorting to elixir mixing. But Scratchansniff kept tabs on the kids, sometimes taking them to nearby fields to play, and would let them play in his stables and pet his horse so long as they didn’t leave it in shambles. And he would teach them, too, make sure they were as educated as they could get, that they knew about the plants, the animals, the edge of magic that affected the borders between worlds, and the stars. Yakko knew it was a bit difficult for him, as he was a self-described “psychoanalyst”, and knew more about brain functions than the math and science the kids needed to learn. But he did his best, and that was all anyone could do in this world.

There was Hello Nurse, who would bring them food if they were snowed into the tower or if they couldn’t make it to town for some other reason, and she’d drop off whatever blankets and coats they needed. And every day Yakko- and eventually Wakko, who loved to copy his brother- would give her the same greeting, just to make her smile, and it always did make her smile and laugh. 

Yakko did remember a bit about his father, and he remembered once his father had jokingly said something akin to “Hello, Nurse!” when his mother had rushed down in a fancy gown, so once when he was six or seven, he’d imitated his father’s words and jumped over to hug her when she came to visit them at the orphanage, and she’d been surprised at first, and then burst into so much laughter that she fell over and couldn’t get up for several minutes. She’d later told him, when he was much older, that she’d had a horrible day, was on the verge of breaking down- and then he’d sprung over and cheered her up like that. 

“You’re a little ray of sunshine, you know.” she said. “You always know how to make people feel better, huh?” 

Yakko liked that. He liked making people feel better. Even if he couldn’t feel good, everyone else should. 

And as the years went on, the ability to feel good drained away from him. And no matter how much he tried to help everyone else, it seemed that a lot of people were losing hope that things would get better. Not Wakko, though. Wakko would always look up at him with a smile and tell him that tomorrow would be kinder to them. That one day things would be okay. And then Dot would run over and do a twirl, announcing that the cutest girl in the world had arrived, and Yakko would ask where she was, and Dot would leap on him and tackle him to the ground, and they’d play-fight until Wakko joined in and they all ended up in a laughing, happy pile of siblings. 

Yakko took care of his siblings best he could, really. He made sure they were fed, they were safe, their nightmares went away faster than his and they never were lost or hurt. But really, they took care of him just as much. He remembered once he picked up a cold from the butcher, and Dot had basically tied him to the bed to get him to rest, and she’d made “water soup” by putting leaves in a bowl of creek water to try and make him feel better. Wakko had taken over the cleaning for the few days his brother was sick, and every night his siblings would bring him whatever extra food they could and then fall asleep on the floor by his bed, cuddled against each other. And even without that, Yakko knew his spirit was only lifted every day because of them. Because of how much Dot was growing by the day, and how proud she was of herself and confident she could do anything she wanted. Because of how optimistic and kind Wakko was at all times, and how nothing could damper his spirit. They were his siblings, and they were perfect.

Sometimes, Yakko wondered why they bothered with him at all. 

Their lives may have continued in that village, on and on until time finally pushed the children into maturity- well, physically, mentally they would never be as serious as one would expect. But then one night, Yakko made a decision that changed everything. 

Earlier that morning, they’d noticed their circle wasn’t doing too hot. The mushrooms would wilt sometimes, and the grass dimmed. No matter what they tried, no amount of new water, dirt, or cheerful songs could make it perk up. Yakko explained that there might be a problem on the other end. 

“Wha’s on the other end?” Wakko asked, laying beside the circle and tying blades of grass together. 

“I’m not sure.” Yakko said.  _ I don’t remember,  _ he meant.  _ It could be better than here, it could be worse. I don’t know if we can risk it.  _

“Shouldn’t we go?” Dot asked, standing on one foot. “Fix our circle?” 

“It’ll probably be fine.” Yakko said carefully.  _ I don’t want to risk it. If it’s even worse than here, whatever happens to you will be my fault.  _

But then the night came. Yakko had been heading home after helping Scratchansniff fix the wheel of his wagon, and Pinky and the Brain had come running. Pinky sputtered for a long time, but Brain had eventually gotten out that several of the king’s guard were coming to search the town for hidden treasure. Yakko had panicked- the guard came to and fro, but the regular officer and tax collector didn’t recognize the kids, didn’t know what they could do. The king’s guard would know, and while searching, they’d find them. 

“When are they arriving?” he asked. 

“Now!  _ Narf!”  _

Yakko heard the horse hooves and then  _ ran. _ He raced to the water tower, running through the town with ease despite the darkened sky, knowing each turn like the back of his hand. He made it to the tower and raced in, and Wakko and Dot were sitting on the floor, playing patty-cake with their feet. And he knew, once the door closed, that he still couldn’t tell them, they still couldn’t know how much danger they were in, they didn’t need that weight on their shoulders. But they still needed to run, to get as far away from the guard as they could for at least a few days. They needed to escape  _ somewhere.  _

“Hey, Yakko!” Dot shouted, turning to him with a smile, not noticing his trembles, “We were talking about the family circle again, and-” 

_ Family circle. That’s it!  _

Whatever was on the other side, it was safer than what was here. 

“The circle, yeah! We’re going there, actually! I have a great idea!” Yakko said. He ran to his siblings, putting his hands on their shoulders, “Let’s go fix the other side.”

“But you said-” Wakko began. 

“Forget what I said!” Yakko said, standing up straight and letting his smile take over his face so that the fear in his eyes would vanish. “I forget what I say all the time! Can’t remember what I said two minutes ago! It’ll be an adventure! Just a quick jump to the other side, fix things up, and come back.” 

Dot was overjoyed, and Wakko bounced up and down with glee, and he flapped his hands just like mother used to, and Yakko wanted to cry, but instead he rushed them out, not realizing that Dot didn’t have her cloak and that he’d left his scarf on the floor. 

And so Yakko ran, ran as far from the sound of the hooves he could, and then he and his siblings stopped in front of the faerie circle, with the mushrooms glowing softly in the light of the moon, somewhere between full and third-quarter. The circle only worked under certain phases of the moon, so thank  _ God  _ this happened tonight. 

He whispered the song, the one he remembered his father teaching him as a nursery rhyme, hoping and praying that he didn’t forget anything. And when the grass started to shine some more, Yakko shined, too, and he grabbed his siblings and said, “Ready to go?” 

“Let’s do it!” Dot cheered. 

“Faboo!” Wakko added. 

Yakko took the hands of his siblings, then, took a deep breath, and pulled them all into the circle. 

He didn’t know what he expected to see on the other side. But when they exited, crashing onto a dark floor, under a dimly cranking projector, surrounded by scattered animation cels, he knew this wasn’t at all what he’d pictured. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Three confused fae are mistaken for actors, cause havok, and then learn the hard way the rough rules of this world.


	2. Long Ago

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw for implied/referenced ableism

“Okay.” Yakko said, turning around. Dot and Wakko had already begun drawing on the animation cels in the few minutes he’d scouted around, and he laid down beside them in order to join them. “First of all, whatcha doin?” 

“We’re going to hit this guy with a hammer.” Dot said. 

“Neat. Here, lemme add me in there. Alright, so, we’ve figured out this ‘moving picture’ thing. Looks like it’s a pretty common thing in this world, this whole lot is dedicated to making them.” 

“That sounds like heaven.” Wakko sighed. “No working, just making moving pictures all day.” 

“And whacking people with hammers.” Dot added. 

“That, too!” 

“Now, okay,” Yakko said, “Haven’t found the other side of the circle. I do remember reading once that if something was covering it, the teleportation would be a little off, which is why we ended up here instead of inside of it.”

“But it’s nearby?” Dot asked. 

Yakko really, really, hoped so. “Of course. We just have to find it, fix it, and then we can,  _ uuuuuuuuuuuh, _ go back home.” 

Then he paused, shrugged, and said, “Hold on, should we sing something after we hit the guy with a hammer?” 

“Why not?” 

People arrived the next morning, and Yakko hid himself and his siblings in an alley as they watched the crowds move to-and-fro, hoping one of them would clearly be heading towards a faerie circle they were intending to mess up, or something obvious like that, just to make their job a bit easier. Most of them seemed to be humans, like Scratchansniff and Hello Nurse and the tax collector guy. One even looked eerily like Ralph the Sheriff, and Yakko wondered for a bit if he could have followed them here, but… no, only fae could travel through circles, and only at certain times. Ralph wouldn’t be able to follow them here, it must just be a coincidence. 

There were a few non-humans, too, but not very many. They looked a lot like the children, actually, with mostly black and white colors and bouncy steps. They seemed like the ones who acted in the moving pictures mainly, and after a few peeks into buildings where they were filming, they saw why; the non-humans, called toons, were able to create magic like the fae, enough that they couldn’t be crushed by a falling building, would just come out a little dizzy. It wasn’t as powerful, seemingly, but it was the reason they were in the funnier moving pictures, to get the slapstick to work. Sometimes their aura even caused the humans to pick up a little bit of immunity to the funnier violence, if only for a little bit and while they were around. 

The siblings didn’t know much about their heritage; even though the town tried their best, the fae kept a lot of things to themselves, so there was a lot the siblings didn’t know. But Yakko assumed, as he explained to his siblings while they walked atop a fence separating grass from concrete, that these toons must have been gifted magic by their ancestors, or even created by them. That would explain the similarities. 

And really, the similarities hit them very quickly, when they jumped off the fence and a man came running up to them. Yakko turned, and jumped, and immediately put an arm in front of his siblings, because for a second he thought the man was the tax collector- what was his name? It didn’t matter, because after a moment Yakko realized this man looked much younger. 

“You three!” he shouted. “You’re our new cartoons, aren’t you?” 

Wakko and Dot both looked to Yakko, who considered for only a second. He could deny it, but… what if this man  _ was _ connected to the tax collector? He didn’t want to parade their lineage around. 

So he shrugged off his concerns, leapt into the man’s arms, and said, “We’re  _ cute _ is what we are!” 

“Especially me!” Dot announced, twirling and curtseying. 

The man pulled a sour face, and dropped Yakko to the ground. “Augh, I hate when toons act like this. Save it for the set!” 

“For the what?” Dot cocked her head to the side. 

The man looked over them. “What  _ are _ you, exactly? Dogs? Cats?” 

Yakko slid beside Wakko, holding his arm up, and the two of them said, “We’re the Warner Brothers!” 

“And the Warner Sister!” Dot added, peeking out from behind them. 

“The Warner-” the man sighed. “Of course Borax named you so unoriginally. Memlo said that he was slacking off. Well, this is the Warner Bros Studio, and I’m the CEO, Thaddeus Plotz.” 

(Plotz sounded familiar, but he didn’t seem to recognize them?) 

“It’s our studio?” Wakko asked, eyes wide. 

“Absolutely not. You’re actors, and you’re needed for the next Buddy cartoon.” 

“The next what now?” Yakko asked. 

“Don’t act coy, this is why you were created! To end Buddy’s cartoon by hitting him with mallets!” 

_ “Oh.”  _ the siblings said in unison. They  _ had _ doodled themselves over the frames the night before. Now this guy thought they were-  _ oh, _ hmm. 

“Yes, oh. Now get to work! Soundstage five.” 

“What’s a soundstage?” Wakko asked. “Is there candy there?” 

_ “Get to work!”  _

“Well, sibs,” Yakko said, putting his hands on their shoulders, “Looks like we have a job now! Do we get paid?” 

“We’ll discuss your salary at the-” 

“Salary?” Dot beamed. “Sounds awesome!” 

“We’re on it, Plotzie!” Yakko said, before jumping over and immediately giving the CEO a large kiss. Wakko and Dot followed suite, and then they raced off, while the man started shouting some kind of obscenity. 

“Are we really going to work, Yakko?” Wakko asked, as they ran, looking for a label for this  _ soundstage.  _ “I thought we were looking for our circle.” 

“We’ll find it somewhere here, I’m sure.” Yakko said. “In the meantime, might as well get paid. Bring something back to the town, yeah?” Pay them back for everything they’d done for them. “And while we do that…” he pulled his siblings down, into a huddle, and then whispered, “Why don’t we have some  _ fun _ with these people, huh?” 

His siblings nodded, excited to have the opportunity to play in this new world. 

And play they did! 

They found out quickly just how  _ fun _ this new world was. The world seemed to work on the basis of comedy first and foremost- much surrounding non-toons stayed grounded to physics, to reality, but if it was funny enough, it would happen. That was probably the aura of the toons, or the connection to the realm of the fae, but whatever the reason, it didn’t matter, because it meant the children could finally do something they hadn’t been able to do for a long while- be  _ kids. _

It started with Buddy cartoons- their job was to pop out of nowhere and hit him with a mallet. He assured them that it didn’t hurt, and so they took their job with pride, going above and beyond. They sang and laughed and danced, and then when shooting was done they would find some new place to camp out and look for their circle. But usually, they’d just laugh about what had happened that day and then fall asleep under a tree or against a windowsill, cuddled against each other. 

Eventually they moved on from Buddy, showing up in other shorts and sketches. They were advised to get an agent, so they picked a toon who looked a bit like the chicken from their hometown. The CEO didn’t seem pleased, but told them to just keep working. The children didn’t mind that- it was more  _ play  _ than work, much more interesting than fixing wheels or taking out the trash. So they kept on going, doing whatever they wanted while the cameras were rolling and laughing with each other when the cameras cut. 

As they kept on, though, they started to notice, little by little, that the humans didn’t seem to understand them very well. They kept saying confusing things, and then getting mad when the children didn’t understand. The kids would do what they were asked, and then the humans would get mad at that, too. But they eventually stopped minding, mainly because these people were mean, really, and mean people shouldn’t be happy until they started being nice. That was something they remembered deep inside them, a calling to set right the criminals with their own brand of karma. It was the call of their people, the purpose of the fae, not that they knew that. They just knew it was right for them. 

They were to be given solo cartoons, and before filming for the first one, where they were to play around with flypaper on their fannies until the director told them to wrap it up, Dot said, “I’m beginning to think our circle’s underground.” 

“What’s that mean?” Yakko asked. 

“We can’t see it, but there’s a lot of pavement here.” she shrugged. “A lot of cement and buildings. Maybe they built something on top.” 

“People in this world are supposed to respect our circles, though.” Wakko said confusedly. 

“Maybe they forgot.” Dot said. “They still haven’t realized we’re not toons, after all. Maybe they don’t remember that our kind even exist.” 

“Well, it means we get to mess with them as much as we want.” Yakko said. What he didn’t say was,  _ It means at least we’re safe here.  _

Then they filmed their cartoon, but the director forgot to tell them to wrap it up until they were out of film, and apparently nobody wanted to edit, so they were told to make more cartoons to make up for it. It wasn’t hard- they made a short in sound, with Dot swooning over a pretty boy in the movies, and a short where they messed up a bakery- for that one, they got to choose their own costumes, and Yakko got them as close to what they’d left behind as he could find. Finally they had another major cartoon, where Wakko was cooking. But then the director kept yelling at Wakko, to the point where once the cartoon ended Wakko ran and hid on the roof of a building to cry into his lap. Yakko and Dot joined him there. 

“Do you want us to make him our special friend for the day?” Yakko asked. 

Wakko shook his head. “It- it must’ve been me. I thought I understood. I guess I was wrong.” 

“He should’ve just explained what he wanted.” Dot sighed, kicking her legs. “You notice that the humans are bad at that? They say, ‘go plant yourselves,’ and then when we shift into flowers they get mad! If that’s not what they wanted, they should’ve just said what they did want us to do.” 

“It’s a bit odd.” Yakko said. “People in our world were better at telling us what was going on. These people just get angry.” 

“Maybe it’s a cultural thing.” Dot shrugged. “Oh! And did you notice they do this weird thing where they, like, think we should read their minds?” 

“No?” 

“Yeah! I was in the cafeteria, and this guy told me that I could totally cut in front of him, so I did, and then he yelled that he was being sarcastic, and I was like, well you should’ve made that more obvious, and he was like, ‘I did!’ Apparently he wanted me to read his freaking  _ face _ or something like that. I don’t have time to learn a  _ face _ language.” 

Wakko nodded. “I think the humans have different senses, too. It gets so loud here, but when I tell them to turn it down they say it’s not that bad.” He tugged on his ears, then, and added, “And they don’t like when I flap.” 

Yakko narrowed his eyes. “They what?” 

“I was excited and did the… you know.” Wakko released his ears in order to flap his hands up and down. “And Manlow told me that was wrong. He…” he bit his lip. 

“What?” Yakko asked, wondering just how long it would take to drive Manlow mad. 

“He, uh, slammed my hands down onto the table until I told him I would stop…” 

Dot was furious, of course, immediately shouting what she’d do to that horrid director. But Yakko had a rage boiling inside even worse than her. The memory of him and mother and baby Wakko so excited to do the same movement, the same action that brought them joy, was pushed to the forefront of his mind, and the thought that someone wanted to take that away from his brother… 

Yakko took Wakko’s hands and said, “You do whatever the hell you want, okay? Next time you see Manlow, flap until your hands turn into wings and carry you off. And bounce! He told you not to bounce, right? Bounce as much as you can. And let your tongue hang out, like you do- like that. Don’t let them stop you from being happy.” 

Wakko nodded, blinking away tears, smiling a little. Yakko gave him a hug, then, one that Dot joined in on, and then they went back downstairs, where they were told that their next short was being tossed from director to director, nobody wanted to work with them. That made them a little upset, but maybe these people were all just busy. Wakko offered to direct the next one- they’d do  _ Yankee Doodle,  _ it’d be funny. 

But the humans didn’t seem to like it very much, and then they waited, and waited, getting more bored by the day, with the board games and books they could find in the break room to keep them entertained. Eventually, they figured that they weren’t going to get a next cartoon, and they should… what was it? The circle, yeah, they had to go find their circle. But they didn’t have to  _ right now,  _ did they? They could still stay in this world and be kids and not have to worry about freezing to death on the streets, or being arrested by the corrupt king’s guards. They could stay a bit longer and  _ play.  _

They bounced around the studio for a little while, doing whatever they wanted, which was good enough for Yakko. Sure, he was still the designated leader, but he didn’t have to be the responsible one anymore, and he was loving it. Sure, let’s drop from the ceiling to grab food! Yeah, that guy was rude, let’s make him a special friend for the day until he regrets what he said! I’m going to spray paint on the wall, want to come? 

Honestly, had someone pulled them aside and given them something to do, or given them some kind of help, maybe they wouldn’t have caused so much of a fuss. They were good kids, really, they only intentionally inflicted pain on those who deserved it. That was their code, their lifeblood. And they just wanted a place where they could be safe and not worry about their very lives. They thought they’d found it here, but they didn’t know that these people had differently-wired thoughts. These people didn’t hyperfocus on one thing, could change their train of thought without problem, didn’t need to bounce or sing to feel good, could read “body language” and “vocal tone.” And they didn’t like people, or  _ toons, _ who couldn’t. 

They didn’t realize the studio didn’t like their playing until they were swooped up in a net. They were skipping rope (with Yakko’s tail as the rope, of course) as the humans played some sort of running game ahead of them, and then suddenly their feet were swept up from under them and they were in the air, bumping into each other and tangled up. They realized they were in a net after a few minutes, when Dot noticed the tangle of rope around them, and they were scared for a good long while- why were they being captured? Did someone from their world come for them? No, that was impossible- then it must be the studio. But why? Did they do something bad? 

They felt relief for only a minute, when the net was taken to the studio water tower, and it was opened, and they were dropped into the empty inside. They felt relief because, oh, this must just be a new playplace or set. Another game, another cartoon, something fun to do. They got up and explored for a moment, bouncing around, bouncing and stimming and laughing. 

And then the door closed, and they were alone, and they realized that the room was dark, and small, and the door was locked. 

And Yakko started to wonder if he’d doomed them to something worse than what they were running from. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Sixty-Five Years takes a while to go by, and children start to forget things as they grow older...


	3. Glowing Dim

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw for verbal ableism

Yakko tried to open the door first, thinking that the humans must’ve accidentally shut it before coming in to play. But then it wouldn’t open, no matter if he pushed or pulled. He laughed awkwardly, saying it must be stuck, and his siblings watched while he hit it, and kicked it, and bounced off the walls to run into it, and kept going and going until an hour had passed and it hadn’t budged. He tried the comedy that this world thrived on- pulled a piano out of thin air to mash against it, but the piano just smashed. He leaned against it, pretending he didn’t care, but it still didn’t budge. He threw himself again and again, and threw Wakko at times, but still it remained shut. 

Wakko started to cry, and Yakko panicked- he hated when his siblings cried, he didn’t want her to be sad, not when they were in a safer place. So he told him that they’d make a game of it, see who could get out the fastest. So Wakko pulled saws out of the air to try to cut through the floor, but they’d break, or he’d get hungry and eat them, and the cracks in the floor would be gone when he glanced down. Dot found Wakko’s bag of comedic items and pulled out paint, trying to paint a window to kick open, but they still didn’t work. They tried everything they could think of, but they couldn’t get out. It seemed that everything was just out of reach, like there was something messing with their magic, or the universe’s comedic rules had turned against them. 

“Maybe this is just part of the game.” Yakko said carefully. “It’s hide-and-seek. They’ll come get us.” 

But they didn’t come. 

They tried to settle in, summoning whatever they needed by coming up with some funny excuse. Dot would whack her brother with a book when he said something stupid, and then they’d have something to read. Yakko would complain they didn’t have a bed, and Wakko would pull a triple bunk out of the wall, and when they were tired of the bunk it shifted into three beds, and then one big bed, whenever they wanted. They worked around the rules of the universe, worked around their imprisonment to at least make it a bit more like home. 

Years and years went by, years of Dot wondering if someone would come to visit and Wakko asking why weren’t they being brought food, why did they have to materialize food only when it was funny, eat the wood off the edge of the bed they were able to make. And years of Yakko, when his siblings were asleep, trying to get the door open until he passed out on the ground from exhaustion. 

Years went by but the children didn’t age. They figured out, pretty quickly, that it was because they were in the wrong world. They wouldn’t age here, mentally or physically. Like a seed, planted in the wrong soil, they’d remain forever underground- or, in this case, high aboveground and unable to break free. 

They played amongst themselves, and tried to make the best of things, but even then there’d be that lonely ache in their chests. They had each other, at least. They had each other, they weren’t completely alone… 

“When they come get us,” Wakko said, “I’m going to hit them with a hammer for thinking this was a fun game. Then I’m going to eat the sidewalk til we find our circle.” 

“Good idea.” Dot said, before blinking with confusion. “What’s our circle look like, again?” 

“It had flowers, right?” 

Yakko didn’t join their conversation, because he didn’t want to admit that the memory of the circle’s appearance had slipped from him, too. He didn’t want to admit that he was forgetting more things- the name of the butcher and the baker in their town, the distance from their water tower to the forest, the way the orphanage used to look. It… it would be fine, he’d remember eventually. It was probably just a bad day for him. 

It was a few years after they’d been shut in when the door opened for the first time. It  _ banged _ open halfway through the night, and Yakko sat up sharply, waking faster than his siblings, and he reached for Dot, the nearest to him, before a net was thrown over him again, just like it had before the tower. He shouted, which woke his siblings, and they all began yelling as the net was tossed between arms, down a ladder, and then into a dark, small room. They panicked for a good few minutes, trying to figure out what was happening. Dot ended up curled in a corner and bawling into her lap, and Yakko ran to hug her tight. Wakko, meanwhile, immediately tried to fix things, and bit into the side of the net until he finally got a hole in it. He continued biting, swallowing the bits of rope as Yakko calmed their sister down, and finally the hole was big enough for them to escape. Yakko ran to the door and  _ slammed _ against it, and thank God, this time it opened. 

He tumbled onto his stomach on the concrete lot, and Wakko lifted him to his feet as they heard humans shouting again. Yakko glanced around to get their bearings, and managed to spot the main building. He dragged his siblings off, ignoring what sounded like footsteps behind them- he must be imagining it- and raced to the building. They bounced, then, bounced and bounced until they jumped high enough to reach a tall window they recognized, and Dot crashed them through the window. 

Plotz was sitting inside and ducked just in time to dodge the shards of glass that blew towards him when the children fell inside, sliding across his desk and landing with a  _ thunk _ on the floor. Yakko sat up quickly, before glancing over at the CEO, sitting up and mumbling something. He pushed down the sudden rush of anger he felt and bounced atop the desk, giving the man a quick kiss, before saying, “Hey, Plotzie, we didn’t really like that.” 

“Wh-what?” he pushed Yakko back to the ground, looking confused and… mad? “What are you  _ talking _ about? Why aren’t you in-” 

“That game was  _ boring!”  _ Dot said, climbing on Wakko’s shoulders as he stood up and bounced his leg. “You never came to find us!” 

“Yeah, we’d like to do something else now.” Wakko said. 

“Something…” Plotz stared at them for a good moment, and then he burst out laughing. Yakko, confused, wandered back to his siblings, and they glanced at each other for a moment. Then Yakko smiled a little- this was good, he thought the game was funny, he thought  _ they _ were funny, they were bringing sunshine to people again… 

“You think we were  _ looking  _ for you?” 

Yakko’s stomach dropped. 

“We knew where you were, Warners, we put you there because you can’t behave!”

_ “Behave?”  _ Dot asked, aghast and trying to look angry, but her face was falling and she’d started shaking and clinging onto Wakko. 

“You can’t listen to  _ simple _ instructions,” Plotz began counting on his fingers, “You can’t stay still and keep causing  _ tons  _ of property damage, you terrify all of our employees! Shoving you in that water tower til you learn how to act is our best option.” 

The children stared, and Dot slowly climbed off of Wakko, grabbing onto Yakko’s hand. Wakko asked, “We…  _ scare  _ people?” 

“You’re chaotic! You’re rebellious! You’re disrespectful!” Plotz’s voice raised, and Yakko instantly ducked lower, in case he had to cover Dot from a blow. “You’re too  _ zany _ to be around  _ normal  _ people!” 

_ “Normal people?”  _ Yakko echoed, his voice breaking. 

“You’re not normal! You’re  _ broken.”  _ Broken. “You’re  _ wrong.”  _ Wrong. “Clearly your creator made a few mistakes while drawing you.” Mistakes. “But if you can’t learn to be normal, we can’t afford to deal with you.” 

“But- but the tower-” Yakko stumbled. This had to be some kind of joke, but it wasn’t funny. “You let us out-” 

“You were removed so the tower could be fumigated.” Plotz waved his hand. “Next time, stay wherever they put you and don’t bother me. Do you know how much it’ll cost to fix this window?” 

Yakko tried to stand taller, pushing his siblings behind him, but Plotz’s voice kept getting louder and louder and it was making him shake. Wakko pulled on his ears, trying to mute the sound as he stared at the ground, mumbling about how they’d just been doing what they were told, did they get it wrong? Why didn’t anyone tell them? And Dot, poor Dot, grabbed onto Yakko’s leg, buried her face in his arm, and started to cry. She began shaking harder than Yakko as Plotz continued his rambles, barely managing to whisper out, “Why do they hate us? Why does everyone hate us? What did we do?” 

Yakko finally broke, and managed to pull away from Dot. He leapt on Plotz’s desk, fury in his eyes, and he said, “Hey! Why don’t you  _ shut up  _ for once?” 

“Why you little-” Plotz reached for him, but Yakko dodged and then leapt back, his fur standing on end. 

“Shut up! Just  _ shut up!”  _ Yakko had so many things he wanted to say, but the words jumbled around in his mind, he couldn’t find what exactly to say. He just wanted Plotz to stop talking, to stop confirming that they were broken and nobody liked them and- 

_ “Wakko!”  _

No, no,  _ no-  _

Yakko whipped around, seeing that the guard had grabbed onto Wakko, and was already halfway out the door. He was kicking and shouting and crying, and Dot stumbled after him, eyes wide and terrified. Yakko didn’t even blink, he simply leapt down and grabbed Dot’s hand and started racing after the guard. 

“Wait! Come back! Bring him  _ back!”  _ Yakko shouted.

After a hall, Dot collapsed, and Yakko had to pick her up and carry her as they raced after the guard, following the sound of Wakko’s cries. Yakko screamed after him, not caring who heard him and what they thought of him, yelling that he wanted his brother back, to bring him  _ back,  _ he didn’t want him out of his sight.  _ You’re hurting him, you’re making him cry, you’re  _ hurting him, _ bring him back!  _

_ They’re hurting him and it’s because I wasn’t next to him to stop them.  _

They ran for what felt like an eternity but what could’ve been only a few minutes. But then they ended up outside of the building, and Yakko looked up to see that Wakko was already being carried back to the tower. Back to the dark, small, cold tower… 

He didn’t have a choice. And if Dot had been in any state to move, she wouldn’t have chosen different either. They had to stay with their brother. If it meant going back into the tower, so be it. 

Yakko raced up the ladder, struggling to hold Dot on his back as he made his way up, trying not to look down, trying to focus only on the fact Wakko was up there and needed him. When he reached the railing, the guard had already left, and Wakko was curled on the floor, sobbing and yanking on his ears so hard it must  _ hurt.  _ Yakko didn’t spare a glance to any of the workers around them, instead racing inside and dropping beside Wakko, letting Dot slide to the floor and pulling them both into a hug. 

The door slammed shut again, and that set them all off. 

Dot ran to the door, pounding against it for a moment, and then she collapsed onto the ground and began to bawl just as hard as her brother. Wakko kicked at Yakko and tugged at his ears, unsure what he even  _ wanted  _ right now. Yakko shook and looked between his siblings as the tears flowed, and then gathered. The tears formed into puddles, and then the floor was damp, and then flooded. Yakko waded through the water, his fur getting clogged and his paws squishing against the floor, and made his way to Wakko’s bag. He dug through, yanking item after item out until he found a decent raft. He pushed it across the floor and got Dot into it first, carrying her in his arms again and settling her down. Then he rowed them over to Wakko as the water rose, with Wakko struggling to cry and doggy-paddle at the same time, and Yakko lifted him into the raft and again hugged his siblings tight. 

It was hours until any of them could speak. Wakko stumbled out some kind of apology, though for what nobody was quite sure, and Dot said she wanted the door open, she wanted to play in the flowers and leave this horrible place. Yakko waited until their tears quieted for a bit, and then he said, “It’s okay, it’s okay. Look, it… it doesn’t even matter. We weren’t here to have fun, we just got carried away. We were supposed to… to make things right. We should’ve… I should’ve-” 

“But I thought we  _ were  _ doing okay.” Wakko sobbed, clinging to Yakko’s chest. “I thought everyone was having fun. I thought it wouldn’t be like… like home… what did we do? What did we do to them?” 

“Wakko-” 

“We must’ve done something. We must’ve done something, we just have to think of what it was and make up for it and say we’re sorry and they’ll- they’ll let us out and we won’t be alone and cold and hungry like we were-” 

“Why didn’t they just  _ tell us what we were doing wrong?”  _ Dot whimpered. “Every time we asked they were just- they acted like we should’ve known. Why didn’t they just tell us what we were doing, we would’ve stopped if it really bothered them-” 

“Why is this world so  _ confusing?”  _ Wakko bawled, his voice breaking. “Why are we  _ broken?”  _

Yakko’s eyes widened, and he hugged them tighter, struggling for an answer. Struggling to think of something to say. 

Finally, he whispered, “We’re not broken, Wakko. We’re not.”

“But-” 

“It’s the world that’s broken. Look at me, look at me.” Yakko waited until his siblings were looking up at him, still blinking tears from their eyes, and he moved his hands to dry their cheeks. “Look at me. If this world can’t see how amazing you two are, then it’s what’s wrong. Maybe that’s why our kind stopped visiting so often. Maybe…” 

Dot sniffled, leaning against him again. 

“Look. When we get out of here, we’ll make them regret it.” Yakko said, his voice darkening. “We’ll make them remember what our kind can do. What we were known for- justice. We’ll  _ make them  _ do things right, we’re supposed to put them on the right path.” 

“I don’t even care anymore.” Dot mumbled. “I don’t want to fix anything. Not the circle, not this world. I just want  _ out.” _

Wakko blinked away tears, pulled closer to Yakko, and then said, “Why hasn’t anyone come for us yet? From home?” 

“Wakko, they can’t, we’re the only ones who-” 

“I want Hello Nurse.” Wakko whined, and then he started talking as fast as he could. “And Scratchy. And Pinky and the Brain and Rita and Runt and Slappy and Skippy and Chicken Boo and Katie and Minerva and the Dovers and Mindy and Buttons from down the road and Colin and the funny pigeons who’d fly over and Mr Mime and the hippos and- and-  _ I want to be home, Yakko, I want to go home, why can’t we be home?”  _

Yakko didn’t have an answer. And he hugged them tight so that they couldn’t see his face, see that he had started bawling as well. He shook and hugged them as they sat on the raft, and tried not to think about how this was his fault. They should’ve just hidden in the forest for a few days. They didn’t need to hop worlds. They didn’t need to duck out and forget what their circle even looked like, and then be locked away. They didn’t need to do this, but he’d brought them here because he hadn’t thought things out, he  _ never  _ thought things out, and now his siblings thought they were broken. It was his fault, it was all his fault… 

They embraced for a long, long time, until Yakko calmed enough to think that they needed a distraction. A task to do. They needed… 

“Hey, you know something?” Yakko asked. “This is finally a water tower.” 

“What?” Dot asked. 

“We filled it. We filled the water tower again.” 

Dot and Wakko blinked at him. 

“Hey, we won’t go thirsty, will we?” Yakko closed his eyes, willed the universe to give him  _ something,  _ and thankfully, yes, he pulled a cup out of nowhere. 

“Yakko-” Dot began. 

Yakko swept some water into the cup, downed it, and immediately spat it back out. 

“Whoa! Saltwater! Forgot about that- that stuff’s  _ disgusting!”  _

Dot and Wakko blinked again, and then Dot giggled, and then so did Wakko, and Yakko felt sunshine swell in his chest again. So Yakko kept doing what he did best- he yakked. He talked on and on, making jokes and telling stories and keeping his siblings distracted until they all fell asleep curled up together again. When they awoke, their tears had dried, and they were on the water tower floor, empty except for their raft and Wakko’s bag in the corner. Everything that had been there before must’ve been cleaned out during the fumigation. 

Yakko woke first and began setting up the room best he could. A giant bed, so they could cuddle that night. A climbing wall. A train set they could ride on. Curtains over the door so they didn’t have to look at it, and made of fabric they could stim with. By the time his siblings woke up, he could distract them so they didn’t think about yesterday, about the fact they were trapped again and this time, there wasn’t the hope that it was a mistake, that someone would come get them. 

And it was about then that the forgetting began in earnest. They didn’t know why, they had theories until they forgot that there was something they’d forgotten. 

What they didn’t know was that fae didn’t let children into other worlds for a reason, were careful themselves about travel. Without proper training, without knowledge of what to do, how to use magic effectively… the forgetting would begin. 

The longer you spend in one world, the more you forget the other. So the longer they stayed in Burbank, the more they forgot about Acme Falls. About their life before the water tower. About everyone they wanted so desperately to keep remembering. 

It happened fast, honestly; maybe it was because of how long they’d been trapped in this world, maybe it was their proximity to the freedom denied to them, or maybe just a way to protect themselves, to make things a little better, to convince themselves that they wanted to be here, that there was nothing else they had to do, that this was home, this was fine, everything was  _ fine.  _

Dot forgot first, and then Wakko. Yakko held on as tightly as he could, but after thirty or forty years little was left. He remembered a few things- he remembered a spark of magic, a spell to make them teleport, a  _ song _ . The moon had to be right, the exact  _ timing  _ to be right, but he couldn’t see the moon, so he tried whenever he could. And it never worked. Eventually he stopped trying. 

Yakko remembered bits and pieces, too, even as the years pressed on. He remembered that they didn’t cause pain, they delivered justice, but was that a job or just a general moral compass? He remembered that this world worked on comedy. He could pull a television out of the wall once it was invented, to figure out what was happening in the world, to entertain his siblings and learn what entertained the people outside. 

They wanted so much to entertain the people outside. Once in a while, the studio would find a use for them. A propaganda film, a cameo in another show. They’d get dragged out, yanked to the soundstage, and then the siblings did their best. They were as funny as they could be, said whatever they thought would keep the humans entertained. Dot would play up her cuteness, grab onto the nearest person to show her a smidgen of affection and hope they’d come to bat for her. Wakko would eat whatever he could, knowing that food in the tower was hard to get, and try to be as nice as possible so that people didn’t hate them. Yakko would talk on and on and try to make them laugh, try to make people feel happy. If the people in charge thought they were funny, maybe they wouldn’t lock them away again. But they always did. 

Sometimes they’d get let out while the tower was cleaned again, but they didn’t play nice those times, they just  _ ran.  _ They ran and found something to play with, someone to deliver karma to. But then someone would get them back in the tower, grab one and let the rest follow, or just swipe them all up in a net when they weren’t looking, shove them in a trunk, and let them wake up back in the now-empty tower. And then they’d be alone again, wondering what else they had to do. 

Once, it was even worse; they were yanked out of the tower by net and dragged to another studio, sold off to work until their new directors got upset with their chaos and sent them back. And then it was another net, and another, until they finally snapped and shut the tower door themselves. They started thinking of it less as a cage and more as a very odd house; after all, in the tower, nobody could call them wrong or broken. In the tower, it was just them, and whatever they could imagine. 

Every now and again, on these little excursions, a memory of someone lost or left behind would pop into Yakko’s memory. When they’d be yelled at for not listening, even though they had been, he’d get another flash, of someone who might’ve been a father or uncle or brother, teaching them to play with a toy while they listened to lessons so their mind didn’t wander. Someone would tell them they were strange, and Yakko would put a hand on his sister’s shoulder to stop her from angrily conking them out with a hammer, and he’d remember a woman who might have been a mother or grandmother or cousin putting a hand on his own shoulder, telling him she understood. But then the thoughts would disappear, and they’d forget again. 

When they forgot what they were there for, they struggled to make sense of everything going on around them. Why were they in the tower? Why were people so mad at them all the time? Why did people feel like the siblings just weren’t  _ right?  _ No, it must be the others who were wrong, it couldn’t be them- Dot and Wakko liked themselves fine, they’d reason, and they liked each other, so they couldn’t be wrong. Yakko would nod along, pretending he was just fine as well, and them he’d tell them they were the best siblings anyone could ask for and hug them tight and not let go. 

Their world slipped away from them, until they forgot all about it. About fifteen years in, Dot forgot what Acme Falls looked like, and when she realized this, she sobbed between her brothers until she fell asleep, and fifteen years after that, she didn’t remember there was another world at all. It didn’t take long for that fact to slip from her brothers as well. They spent so long in the tower, in  _ this _ world, that it was becoming their world, the only one they knew. 

Where else did they have to go? Who else did they have to go home to? Who, indeed; about forty-seven years in, the youngest asked, “We’re siblings, right?” 

“Of course.” Yakko said, making pancakes with plenty of sugar, enough that they could have a sugar rush funny enough to justify pulling the bag out of nowhere, and enough sugar so that Wakko wouldn’t break down again. They’d realized he’d needed food a lot, with a lot of sugar, or he’d… they didn’t like to think about that. 

“If we’re siblings, where are our parents?” Dot asked. “The rest of our family?” 

Yakko had a flash, then, of loving hands running through his hair, and a woman flapping her hands with him, of a man giving him a kiss on the forehead at night. Of another woman, who didn’t look like them but had the same lost nostalgia of the others, fixing his scarf, saying something about sunshine. Of another man, taking them to a park to play inbetween studies. A squirrel pulling a blanket over them on a cold night, mice riding on their shoulders and telling them their plans for the day, a dog and cat huddled up against them. Flashes of people far away, long ago. 

And just like that, the flashes dimmed. Yakko blinked, and then shrugged. 

“Well, we’re toons, right? So we were drawn. So we were made by the studio.” 

Dot looked upset. “So our parent is the animator who drew us?” 

“Sure seems like it.” 

“But they fired him cause he screwed up with us.” 

Yakko paused, and then turned and smiled, crossing his arms. “What are you talking about?” 

“He made us and they fired him cause we’re… you know.” 

“Naw, that’s just what they tell us. They’re jealous.” 

“Jealous?” 

“Yeah. They realized they’d never be able to make a toon as cute and amazing and powerful as, er… what’s her full name? Angel something.” 

Dot swelled up with pride. “Princess Angelina Contessa Louisa Franchesca Banana-Fanna Bo Besca, the Third!” 

Not thinking about the fact that there would have to be an Angelina the Second, and an Angelina the First, Yakko simply scooped his sister up in his arms and twirled her around the floor until Wakko awoke and asked why their home smelled like burnt pancakes. 

Years kept pressing on. Technology shifted, employees grew older, different guards tossed them in nets when it came time to clean. They’d come up with different ways to make the tower fun, to forget they couldn’t leave. There’d be arguments, of course- one time, Wakko and Dot didn’t speak to each other for two months after some disagreement involving a lipstick case. Once Yakko and Wakko wouldn’t stop wrestling until they broke Dot’s dollhouse, and then she whacked them until they finally agreed to calm down. Yakko and Dot spent a very long time passive-agressively slamming each other after what they referred to as the Bunk Bed Incident. And once, they’d all gotten so mad at each other over their opinions on a book that they’d tried to build separate rooms. But then they’d fall back together, fall back into their small, tight family. In the latter instance, Dot began crying halfway through the night because she couldn’t see her brothers, and they’d forgotten what they’d been arguing over in the first place, and crashed all the walls down and fallen asleep on the carpet together. 

Because, really, what choice did they have? There was nobody else for them to go to, even on the rare occasions they’d be released. Everyone seemed to hate them,  _ fear  _ them. So it was just the three of them, and they didn’t need anyone else, did they? No, this was fine. It was all fine. 

And so they remained for roughly sixty-three years, making their own world inside the tower. 

And then there was a burst of magic, a gift to them perhaps. Or perhaps the timelines between worlds finally synced up enough that this second world recognized that the children should be out. But whatever it was, in 1993, the water tower door swung open.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: A new start in the 90s... but all good things must come to an end.


	4. As an Ember

The door opened slowly, which they weren’t used to. They’d been playing cards on the ground, though Wakko had been eating Dot’s cards when she wasn’t looking, and they all turned to the door, tensing and waiting for the net to come. But it didn’t, and after a minute, Yakko stood, and moved to the door, and looked out. No guards. No jailers. 

“It’s open.” he said, and then they wasted no time in  _ running _ out. 

People noticed, soon, and screamed, and the children didn’t mind. It was time for them to have fun, because they were finally  _ out _ and now that the door wouldn’t remain shut, they could never be trapped again. They blew kisses and waved, and then bounced around the lot until they ended up outside an open window. Dot peered in, seeing an older, balding man, and for half a second, she felt recognition. Something in her mind said  _ this man is safe, this man is kind, he doesn’t always understand but he tries. This man is family.  _

So she said the first thing that popped to her head- “Did you miss us?” 

The man looked on in confusion. “I hardly know you.” 

Her brothers popped down, had similar flashes, and then announced,  _ “We’re  _ the Warner Brothers!” 

_ “And  _ the Warner sister!” Dot announced, and they leapt forwards and kissed him. 

They had fun with this man for a while- Yakko recalled a name, Dr Scratchansniff, though he wasn’t sure from where, perhaps television? And then he called in his nurse to escort them out, and when Yakko and Wakko turned and saw her, they felt an instant connection, one they may have misinterpreted along the way. They instinctually greeted her with a  _ hello, nurse!  _ and immediately felt safe. She took them out, and then babysat them in another building, where she figured out they were bored and laid out paintbrushes and paper for them. Dot ended up coloring on Yakko’s ears and Wakko ended up eating the paint, but it was the thought that counted, really. 

The doctor tried to talk to them again, but they must’ve done something wrong again- gotten distracted, taken something too literally. And then he got angry, and as soon as he did, they gave up trying to compromise. If he wasn’t going to try, why should they? 

But it was soon after they were approached. On the condition they didn’t go around destroying the studio, they could star in a variety cartoon show. Film on a soundstage some of the time, let cameras follow them for others. They were excited, of course- if people liked them, they wouldn’t be locked somewhere. So they agreed. 

They eventually met the other stars, wandering around the lot. And for some reason, they felt real happy when meeting them, as if they’d known each other once long ago. Pinky and the Brain, two lab mice who wanted to take over the world- whether that was a scripted sketch or what they were actually doing, the children weren’t sure, and honestly it didn’t matter to them. The Goodfeathers, three pigeons who looked and sounded vaguely familiar, with their sketches about the bird mafia that Dot found fascinating. Slappy Squirrel and her nephew Skippy, who took to the kids pretty fast, though Slappy would deny it; there was some kind of understanding between them, a similar thought process that bonded them, and during off-days Wakko and Skippy would take turns bounding around the lot to see who could go higher. 

There were Buttons and Mindy- Buttons was a talented stunt-toon, and Mindy a newcomer to film, so new she hadn’t quite gotten the “acting” thing down yet and wouldn’t call the her mother in the sketch anything other than “lady.” If someone got mad at her for that, Yakko would intervene, bouncing around and causing a distraction until the director looked away and Mindy and Buttons had time to get the sketch back on track. There were Rita and Runt, too, formerly homeless animals who had risen in the studio and gotten their own short. Rita’s voice was oddly calming, and sometimes the children would sit backstage and just listen to her sing over and over. Sometimes, during breaks, Wakko would feel safest curled up against Runt and napping with him, though neither of them were quite sure why. 

“It’s okay, right?” Wakko asked, after falling asleep on the dog the first time, worried that he would be reprimanded. 

Runt simply wagged his tail. “Definitely okay! Definitely, definitely okay!” 

There were a few other segments, and the children tried their best to be friendly with them, especially since they, too, seemed instantly familiar. There was Minerva Mink, who they all had a crush on at some point but mostly just functioned as the cool older friend who could buy them expensive things. Colin spent most of his time with Mindy and Skippy, but he’d play with them sometimes and tell them a rambling story, and the mime would try to entertain them when they were bored between shoots. The Hippo couple were incredibly sweet and concerned about the siblings’ wellbeing, and their misunderstanding of how economics worked meant that they tended to give the kids hundred dollar bills and tell them to “go get a banana or something.” Katie Ka-Boom was basically their cool older sister, she would drive them to get milkshakes and then let them out in a park to ride out the sugar rush, and once when a director was being rude to Dot, she transformed into a gorgon to make him shut up, which Dot wouldn’t shut up about for the next three months. Yakko and the guest star Flame would talk history, Dot liked to prank the mime, who was always happy to oblige, and the kids felt like Chicken Boo was some kind of old friend, even though he was a bit standoffish, and occasionally a bit rude, but they had those… well, Wakko, ahead of his time, referred to them as “good vibes.” And then there was Mr Skullhead, who they didn’t  _ feel _ like they knew, but they sure had a good time with, though unfortunately if one of his bones went flying Wakko would go into “puppy mode” and race to catch it, and then they’d have to wrestle it away. But overall, they got along with the cast, which was nice, they hadn’t had anyone to get along with in… well, a long time. 

The show was loads of fun, too! They got sketches where they were given stuff they loved to do- punishing bad guys. Of course, they made sure the actors were alright with it first, and most of them were trained stunt-toons like Buttons, so it was alright to go a bit overboard at times. And a lot of their sketches took place in different periods of history, giving Yakko an excuse to infodump to his siblings before they went on. Dot especially enjoyed when she got to play up her cute factor, mainly because she thrived on the audience reaction. Wakko, meanwhile, was simply happy to be outside and hanging with his siblings, while they made new friends out of their cast and crew. 

Hello Nurse and Scratchansniff ended up joining the cast, too- Nurse was also a part-time actress, so it was easy enough for her to jump in, but Scratchansniff was mainly only pulled for acting if an extra called in sick, most of the time he just had to consent to be filmed when the Warners were followed with cameras, which was a bit odd for him, considering doctor-patient confidentiality. But he got used to it, and he got used to the Warners, too, slowly figuring out how to work around their zaniness and see them as what they were- very excited kids. Sure, it was a bit rocky at the start, and they had their ups and downs, but he honestly… well, he  _ tried, _ which was more than a lot of adults did. And eventually he ended up taking them on little field trips, letting them go have fun outside of the studio, which they appreciated more than they let on. They didn’t get to go out of the studio very much otherwise. 

They didn’t get to do a  _ lot _ otherwise, actually. It seemed like Plotz didn’t like the idea of people finding out more about the Warners for some reason- in fact, for their 65th anniversary special, only higher-up members of the studio were allowed to come. (Not that the Warners noticed, really, they weren’t looking forward to the clipshow so Wakko played white noise with his tail so they could fall asleep.) They weren’t allowed to do unsupervised interviews, either, or go out without an employee with them, though they did sneak away every now and again. Not that they could stay away for long, though. They were a little scared that if they escaped too long, if they weren’t entertaining the studio, they’d be caught and locked away, their show cancelled forever, and then they’d never be let out again. It would just be endless days in the tower alone, and they couldn’t do that. Not again. 

They had fun on set, they really did. They liked doing things together, they liked when they were told they did a good job at the end of the day, they liked after the episode aired and they found out people liked it, people liked  _ them… _ but there was always something wrong, and they couldn’t ever really place what. Always a reason Yakko would wake up at the drop of a pin, shaking over some nightmare he couldn’t remember; always a reason Wakko would be close to tears when someone implied he wasn’t trying hard enough; always a reason Dot clung to whoever so much as smiled at her. 

And so the years went by, such short years in comparison to everything they’d sat through already. Rita and Runt got too expensive for the show, so they went on to broadway and the show had to add extra segment slots for everyone to compensate. The Hippos ended up dropping off to focus on their relationship, Colin was getting older, Katie left to attend college… stuff happened, actors moved on. And it was around 1998, after trying to ignore the sense of dread growing within them for years, after keeping their spirits up as much as they could… 

Yakko was walking his siblings back from a therapy appointment- which went about as well as usual, though ol’ Scratchy seemed to be learning how to get along with them- when they passed the network meeting room. Wakko ran to the water station to see if he could drink it all in one go, Dot ran off to cheer him on, and Yakko was about to follow before he heard the conversation going on in the room behind them. He leaned against the door, listening as they discussed their show’s marketing. It was doing well, it really was, but advertisers didn’t know if they wanted their commercials next to it. Too many adults watched their show to advertise to kids, but they couldn’t advertise just for adults because the show was still kept in a children’s time slot. They couldn’t move it for some reason, something Yakko didn’t understand, so they were talking cancellation. Just end it now, we just filmed the ninety-ninth episode, that should be enough. 

Yakko was frozen for a good long time, his stomach plummeting down to his feet. It took him a minute to realize he wasn’t breathing, and then he had to step back and force himself to inhale and exhale until he could figure out how to move again. And when he did, he ran to Wakko and Dot, grabbed them by the hands, and raced down the halls. His siblings yelled with confusion, but he kept on going, going past upset crew, shouting about running in the halls, and concerned castmates- Hello Nurse actually reached out and tried to put a hand on his shoulder, only for Yakko to flinch away, tears springing to his eyes, as he raced for the exit. 

An alarm went off sometime after they got out of the building, but Yakko just ran them as far as he could. They went past the water tower, and for a moment, Yakko froze, staring, as if he should go back- there was a hesitation, a pull, saying that home was back there. But then he heard footsteps- whether someone pursuing them, or someone who happened to be passing by, he didn’t take the time to find out. He grabbed his siblings again and kept running. 

He ran until it was dark in the sky, and he was somewhere in the city he hadn’t been before. Dot fell asleep, and Wakko carried her while Yakko looked for somewhere for them to sleep; he’d stopped trying to ask what they were doing, just accepted that Yakko knew best. 

Eventually, they found some kind of park, and Yakko helped Wakko carry Dot up into the branches, where they could hide among the leaves. Wakko ended up curling inbetween his siblings, hugging them both while they slept and trusting that everything would make sense in the morning. Yakko, meanwhile, didn’t sleep; instead, he just huddled against his siblings, running his hands through their fur, and cried. 

When they awoke, he told them what he’d heard. That their series was ending. Which meant they’d be trapped again. And he wouldn’t let them do that. They didn’t hate the tower anymore, it was true, but they couldn’t go back to it being their only home, with locked doors and solitary confinement and struggles for food. 

His siblings understood. When he’d finished explaining, he looked up at them, to see Wakko whimper and shrink into his sweater, while Dot played with her skirt, trying not to look at anyone. 

“We should’ve expected this, yeah?” she muttered, her voice broken. “We were bound to slip up sometime.” 

“It wasn’t your fault, Dot.” Yakko assured her, putting a hand on her shoulder. 

“Maybe if we were funnier they’d work harder to keep us on air. Maybe…” 

Yakko hugged his siblings close for a long time, and then they kept running. 

They didn’t really know where they were going, just anywhere they couldn’t be caught. They’d been caught tons of times, though, and Yakko knew they couldn’t run forever. Eventually someone would grab them, and they’d have to fight or they’d be trapped again. He didn’t want that again, not for his siblings, not even for him. 

“What haven’t we tried yet?” Dot asked, while they sat on a street corner one morning, hiding behind newspapers as people passed on by. 

“We could try leaving the country.” Wakko suggested. “But would we get arrested for transporting a minor across state borders?” 

Yakko blinked. “Wakko. We’re all minors.” 

“So we’d all get arrested?” 

“Wakko.” 

It ended up being their best idea, so they shoved themselves in a suitcase and hid on the first plane they could find. Once it took off, they pushed themselves out and hid among the rest of the luggage until the plane landed- which took  _ forever,  _ they got bored and eventually resorted to ripping apart their suitcase and making items out of it until they finally landed. They managed to sneak past the exiting passengers, and ran from town to town for a while until they eventually figured out where they were. 

“Wouldn’t’ve picked Ireland,” Dot shrugged. “It’s nice and all, but I always wanted to see the Paris fashion.” 

“And I wanted to eat the Eiffel Tower.” Wakko added. 

Yakko didn’t want to say,  _ But Ireland is pretty, and beautiful, and it’s definitely not the inside of a tower,  _ so instead he said, “Think of it this way, sibs. They won’t think to look for us here.” 

Still, they got a bit lonely on the run. They couldn’t talk to people for long, for fear they’d be spotted, and the guards would be called over somehow, and then they’d be stuck. So they just kept moving. They weren’t sure where they were headed to, just… somewhere. 

After a little bit, Dot came back to the hotel room they’d managed to rent and immediately flopped down on the floor. “My head feels  _ weird.”  _

“Did you eat too much sugar and crash?” Yakko asked. 

“That’s my job!” Wakko whined. 

Dot opened her mouth, paused, and then coughed into her elbow. “Ugh. Probably picked up a cold from somewhere.” 

“Well, get some rest. It’ll pass by morning.” Yakko said. “And if not, we’ll make you waffles.” 

“Where are you gonna get waffles?” 

“I have a waffle maker in my gag bag!” Wakko said. 

Dot groaned, but got up and made her way to bed, immediately passing out beside her brothers. Wakko wagged his tail a bit, before curling up beside her. “Come on, Yakko, early nap!” 

“You go ahead, I’m gonna check the door locks again.” 

“That’ll just take a second. Cuddle time?” 

Yakko sighed. “Do you  _ wanna _ catch Dot’s cold?” 

_ “But Yakko, cuddles!”  _

Yakko rolled his eyes. “You two really do know you can make me do anything, huh?” 

“Yep!”

He sighed, looked over the door, and then wrapped himself around his siblings. “Goodnight, Wakko.” 

“If I kick you in my sleep, it’s not intentional.” 

“I know. Same here.” 

But instead of kicking in his sleep, Wakko instead woke his siblings up at 2am, saying, “Yo, I let’s get moving! Let’s go into the forest!” 

“Why?” Dot groaned, shoving the pillow over her head. 

Wakko thought for a second, as if he hadn’t thought that far ahead, and then he beamed and bounced on the edge of the bed, sending her flying into the air, and he shouted, “I want to eat a bug!” 

“You can  _ do that anywhere!  _ And in the  _ morning!”  _

“Please? Please? Please please please please please? Yakko, tell her we can go!” 

Yakko sat up, shrugged, and said, “What else do we have to do today? Now get our sister off the ceiling fan.” 

Maybe something  _ did _ push Wakko to the woods that day, or maybe they’d been called there the entire time- called to the right airport, to the right plane to the right destination. But they wandered into the woods, forgetting their worries for a moment while they swang from branch to branch, tripping over roots and falling into piles of leaves. 

And then Wakko hid behind a tree from Dot and Yakko, who were chasing him with branches, laughing all the way, and he turned and said, “Hey, guys! Take a look at this!”

Dot bounced over, throwing her branch over her shoulder and letting it knock Yakko down. “What?” 

“Look at that circle of mushrooms. If you look at it out of the corner of your eye, the grass inside kinda glows.” 

They ended up spinning around, trying to get the best view of the circle to see it glow. “The mushrooms are kinda glowing, too.” Dot pointed out. 

Yakko went over to the circle, kneeling beside it and smiling a bit. His spirits lifted for some reason, and he began to sing a little, a song he didn’t remember learning, but one that never quite left his mind. And to his surprise, after a moment, Wakko knelt beside him and began singing along, and then Dot. 

The grass began shining a bit brighter, and the siblings stared a moment, wondering what they’d just done, why they’d just kinda  _ known _ to do it. But slowly, they continued just following their instincts. 

They grabbed hands, paused only a moment, and then leapt inside. 

When they next opened their eyes, there was about an inch of snow on the ground. They were on the edge of a cliff now, the lights of several towns down below, a castle in the far, far distance. Nobody was near the circle- in fact, this side of it had been all but forgotten until now, left alone high above the kingdom. 

“This isn’t Ireland.” Dot said. 

“This isn’t Burbank, either.” Wakko added. 

Yakko hesitated a moment, and then stepped out of the circle. 

As soon as he did, a warm feeling grew in his chest, and flashes of memory became clearer. He smiled, looking down at the towns below, and said, “I think we’re home.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter; Wakko makes a wish...


	5. Things My Heart Used to Know

**THINGS MY HEART USED TO KNOW**

It took them about two weeks, their time, to get back home. Might’ve taken shorter if they hadn’t taken the time to run through the woods cheering and leaping but, hey, cut them some slack. They’d just gotten home, and the fact they hadn’t been entirely safe there hadn’t hit them yet. 

Their memories didn’t all come flooding back, it was more like a trickle. There was the initial burst when they stepped out of the circle, realizing they were home, they knew this place, it was where they belonged. Then, as they eventually made their way back to Acme Falls, having to rely on the directions of strangers and their own inner compass, more memories resurfaced. Scratchansniff spreading out a blanket for them in the park, climbing the trees with Skippy, tending to their own circle in the garden. Eventually, the sadder memories did come back- cold nights, feelings of fear when a guard passed through town, the unfairness that was all around them. But they had something here they didn’t have in the other world- people who understood. They wouldn’t be locked away this time, shoved away until they were useful. And no matter what dangers they faced, at least they were here together, and they were free. 

They had to make their way back to town, with Yakko making sure they avoided the sight of any guards or soldiers of the King. At first, he didn’t know why, and by the time he remembered, his siblings had gotten used to not questioning his fear of authorities again; in fact, they’d all gotten a bit wary after being chased with nets by security guards for roughly seventy years. 

By the time the two weeks was up, and they saw Acme Falls in the distance, however, things from the other world were slipping, too. Perhaps it was because it was their second world, perhaps they were once again shielding themselves from horrifying events, or perhaps it was simply the overwhelming joy at being home and getting memories of the place back that pushed aside everything that happened inside the circle. But it didn’t matter, because as soon as they saw their town, their home, even in the distance, they were filled with such glee that it didn’t matter what they did and did not know. 

They raced, Yakko holding his siblings’ hands to keep them together as they went as fast as they possibly could, trying to get home. Wakko shouted once they could see people, and then people shouted, too, much more excited than people had been in the other world upon seeing them. They raced into the town square, bouncing and skipping, and the first thing that happened was they got tackle-hugged by Runt, who leapt out of an alley and immediately began licking their faces. Rita jumped out, too, and though she later tried to play it off as surprise, it was clear to the Warners how happy she was when she jumped atop of Yakko, purring and rubbing against him. 

The townspeople ran out, one after another, and the Warners were hugged and tossed into the air, scratched behind the ears and ruffled on the heads. Skippy bounced around them, asking a million questions, while Slappy tried to keep him calm. The Brain attempted to pretend he was unbothered, which was a bit hard as Pinky was sobbing next to him and clinging to the legs of the kids. Hello Nurse made a mad dash for the Water Tower and came back with Yakko’s scarf and Dot’s cloak, which she’d been keeping clean since they’d disappeared, and Scratchansniff grabbed whatever extra food they all had, as well as some of his elixirs “on the house”- the Warners were so excited, they even pretended not to be disgusted by it. 

They got news trickled to them by excited ramblings and hushed questions- they’d been gone for months, everyone had been terrified the guards had caught them, though they avoided saying why exactly, something Yakko was thankful for at least. But they’d remembered what Wakko had said just last winter, they had to never give up hope they’d see their kids again. Yakko had to try very hard not to cry at that. Wakko and Dot made no such attempts, and instead hugged whoever they were near and bawled and said they’d missed them so much. 

They didn’t answer a lot of questions about where they’d been. They didn’t really want to talk about painful memories- and, a part of them deep inside, even with this great and relieved welcome, wondered how they would react when they told them that the other world hated them, wondered if they’d be hated here, too. They simply said they disappeared into their circle, there was another world that they’d been in for a long time, but they were forgetting it. They spilled a few things- Wakko talked about indoor plumbing, and Yakko talked about their cool producer Spielberg and his films, and Dot mentioned that they all had alternate selves there that were “pretty much the same, only employed.” Slappy made a quip about switching with her alternate self so that she didn’t have to freeze every winter, and Brain questioned if his other self had taken over the world yet, and Pinky fretted about which one he’d have to shoot if he turned evil, and eventually they moved on. 

The siblings got back to the water tower- not their prison, the broken-down old water tower they’d made their home, though they had to admit to themselves that the other water tower had grown into a home as well. They cleaned up whatever was left a mess, and all curled in Dot’s bed that night, with Rita and Runt curled at the foot of their bed, swearing they’d only be there a day or so, really, they just wanted to make sure they wouldn’t disappear on them again. And the children didn’t, didn’t even check on their circle for a few days for fear that it could draw them back in. 

It took a few days for them to get back into the swing of things- for a couple weeks, nobody would let them work like they had before, instead just letting them play with the children in the square or letting them hang around. They had to get re-used to not hiding from everyone who came around the bend, afraid they’d be caught and locked away, and to being allowed to roam where they wanted, curl up against their friends without being reprimanded. They even got used to seeing Ralph the Sheriff without inwardly groaning or panicking- Yakko had been a little afraid at first, but it seemed like Ralph and the Tax Collector, Plotz, hadn’t even noticed the kids were gone. Eventually, though, Yakko convinced them to let them be of some use again, to do a couple odd jobs here and there and help everyone out. 

And, unfortunately, they really  _ did _ have a reason to need to work. 

Dot’s cold she picked up from the other world had persisted, but they’d all assumed it was just a bad virus she’d get over. She’d had colds before. But about three weeks into their return home, she’d been unable to sleep, coughing and trembling all night no matter what her brothers did. The next morning she coughed up blood onto the floor while trying to get a drink. Yakko tried very hard not to panic, started listing off potential illnesses he remembered from the other world and from this one in his head as he tucked her back in and tried to put her to sleep again. Wakko ran into town, and it took him several minutes of terrified gesturing before he was able to form the words “Dot is sick” to the worried townspeople. 

_ Dot is sick  _ didn’t seem real. Not to this degree, nobody they’d known had ever been sick like this. (Though Yakko had flashes, sometimes, of a man who looked like them, stumbling after dinner, vomiting onto the floor, being rushed away and disappearing…) And she always pushed herself when she had been ill, kept going, bouncing and jumping and ignoring the fact she had the sniffles; she was coughing regularly now, tiring herself out when walking far distances, constantly hugging herself and mumbling and crying. She hated being weak like this, so the fact she was even  _ showing _ these behaviors was terrifying. 

Everyone with medical knowledge stopped by, but Scratchansniff eventually had to tell the children that they had no idea what was wrong with her, the only way to fix it would be surgery. But even he couldn’t do such an operation for free, not without going even more bankrupt than previously. They understood, really, they didn’t want to be more of a burden on the town. But they needed some way to pay for the surgery, to find out what was wrong with her and fix it, because it didn’t seem to be fixing itself. 

Obviously, Dot couldn’t do a lot, and though Yakko did his best around town, it wasn’t like anybody there had any money either, and when he got up the courage to ask the tax collector for a job, he got laughed out, not that he expected otherwise from someone who was the alternate form of their old CEO. 

Wakko brought up the idea of leaving town when snow began to fall. Yakko had said no initially, not wanting to be separated from his brother, and definitely not wanting Wakko alone in this world. But Wakko kept pressing, saying that he could use the skills he’d learned in the other world and still remembered, saying that other towns must have more money and more jobs and people willing to hire. That he could take care of himself, he knew how to beat someone up, how to pull a mallet out of thin air if necessary. That now Yakko wouldn’t have to think about feeding his brother, and focus all his energy on taking care of Dot and himself. Wakko could do this, for his baby sister, please? 

When Yakko finally agreed, he did hug Wakko incredibly tight, cuddling up against him for a very long time. They fell asleep in a sibling pile again, and then the next day Wakko left on the train to seek his fortune elsewhere. 

Dot and Yakko waited for him whenever Dot was able to leave the water tower. They would go across town, sitting on the bench at the train station and falling asleep on each other, no matter the weather. And when Dot couldn’t walk that far, Yakko would find an odd job to do, some way to help out, and then during free time he’d sit on the bench himself, staring out at the tracks and willing a train to appear, carrying his little brother, safe and sound. Sometimes, when they were on the bench, people would stop by with food or blankets or just to sit with them and chat, keep their mind off of things. It was nice of them, they were doing the best they could do. 

Months pressed on, and Yakko kept taking care of Dot and waiting for Wakko, sometimes getting the occasional letter, smiling and crying at the misspelled words and backwards letters. He’d huddle up against Dot and read them to her, while she smiled and tried to look well. 

One night, Yakko was tucking her into bed, and she said, “You know that actor I had a crush on in the circle?” 

“Mel Gibson, yeah.” 

“...I don’t remember what he looks like.” 

Yakko bit his lip, and then nodded that he, too, couldn’t remember. 

“Are we gonna forget that world like we forgot this one?” 

“It’s possible.” 

“It… it wasn’t all bad. I liked the other Scratchy. The whole cast.” 

“I know.” 

“I liked Mr Spielberg. I liked filming cartoons.” 

“I know, sis.” 

“I don’t want to forget everything again.” Yakko hugged her tight, and then Dot whispered, “What if I forget everything? That world and this one?” 

“That won’t happen.” 

“But what if…” she took a deep breath, and then she said, “Can you tell me the story again?” 

Yakko smiled ruefully. “It’s been, what,  _ years  _ since you needed that to go to sleep.” 

“I don’t want to forget.” 

“Sis…” 

“Please? I’m sick, you know.” Dot faked a cough, and Yakko sighed, and sat beside her, and told her the story of the Knight and his Princess and how desperately they’d wanted a daughter, and how out of the prettiest flower in all the land came their little girl, the cutest child in the whole world, in any world. 

He ended up telling the story almost every night, before going to his own bed and crying where she couldn’t see him. 

It was the next winter, a year of struggling by and forgetting and missing their sibling, when Yakko got a letter, excitedly saying that Wakko was getting paid soon, that he’d be back on the next train. They hoped he was right, and Yakko and Dot raced to the bench every day, sitting together and bouncing and hoping that today would be the day their brother came home. 

And then one day it was. One day the train came in, and all the townspeople raced over at the sound, excited for Wakko to return. Dot was overjoyed, forgetting her illness and leaping to her feet so she could be the first to greet him back, and Yakko stayed behind her, eyes lit up and heart lifted for the first time in a long time. 

The story of what happened when Wakko got back was spread throughout the kingdom, then; how happy everyone had been at his return, but then how his ha’penny had been taken away by the tax collector. How he’d wished on a star at night, and picked the right star, and the star landed a few miles outside of town, and the first to touch it would be granted their heart’s desire. The whole town traveled, only to be caught by King Salazar’s men. How Salazar had taken one look at the children and disdainfully ordered them executed. How they escaped, only for cannonfire to… 

The stories differed from place to place. Whether Dot was faking her injuries, to give Wakko time to rush to the star, or if she had truly been struck by a cannonball, life leaving her in her eldest brother’s arms as she begged him to tell her the story one last time, and then Wakko had wished for her to return, his selflessness granting him a second wish, to cover the horror and grief that had struck everyone who watched. Yakko himself had been pretty sure Dot was faking- he’d seen her whisper to Wakko as they ran and the firing began, though really that could have been anything. But that hadn’t stopped him from feeling utter terror when he saw her lying in the snow, panic when he was holding her tight. He’d sobbed while holding her body, unsure if she was holding her breath or if she’d actually stopped moving. 

He assumed she was faking, really, especially since she popped up so quickly. But really, he didn’t want to ask, he didn’t want to know. Only Wakko and Dot knew, and they would tell him if they needed to, if they wanted to. 

He did know that after she popped up, he’d run with her to their brother, just as he made his wish, and emerged with  _ two _ ha’pennies. They’d managed to slip away from the king, then, carried off by the town and protected by Ralph and Plotz’s changes of heart. They’d gotten into town, and Dot had surgery, and the ha’pennies made their way around town, kickstarting their economy back. 

And it was in the hospital that Hello Nurse and Scratchansniff pulled Yakko aside while he was getting back from the outhouse, kneeling him down and whispering that Salazar’s power was failing. His guards had seen his ruthlessness and Wakko’s selflessness, and they were loyal to the children now. Everyone in the kingdom who’d heard their story was. Yakko was close to tears, and then Nurse slipped him the birth certificates. A loyal servant had slipped them out of the castle before the fire, and they had finally made their way to Acme Falls. Evidence of who they were, and their claim to the throne of Warnerstock. 

Yakko had been afraid at first, while Nurse and Scratchansniff hugged him tight. Remembering being five years old, a sword pressed against him, shaking and crying while hearing  _ “I’ll surrender, I promise, just let him go.” _ But as he made his way back to his siblings, his spirits lifted as he started to run. Salazar’s guards had left him. His support was gone. They’d beaten him before, beaten him to the Wish, and they could do it again. 

He burst into the hospital room, papers in hand, and finally let his siblings know who they were. 

It was quick after that. As soon as Dot had recovered, they burst into the palace, kicking Salazar to his own hungry, angry dogs. They were put back where they belonged, under the portrait of their family they’d found in a dusty cellar, hidden away. Wakko and Dot spent a long time staring up at it, asking Yakko if that’s really what their parents looked like, if those looks of love they had were genuine. Dot cried upon seeing their mother tying her ears back like she did, and Wakko would sometimes sit on the floor under the portrait with paper and pencil, sketching his parents so he wouldn’t forget them again. 

The kingdom flourished under them- they remembered how economics worked, after all, and other kingdoms were willing to trade with them now that Salazar was gone. They kept tabs on all their old friends, visited Acme Falls whenever they could, usually stopping by on the way home to tend to their circle. Scratchansniff and Nurse had perfected their elixir, Scratchy Cola, and were the head of a very successful enterprise. Scratchy had adopted Rita and Runt, too, finally giving them a stable and happy home. Ralph directed traffic, waving at them as they passed, while Skippy and Slappy’s tree was in full bloom, giving them plenty of food and shelter. They appointed Brain as their chief advisor, and though every now and again he tried to usurp the Kingdom, they knew it was all in good fun. Pinky lived at the castle with Brain, too, and his horse girlfriend, and he often stopped by to chat. Everyone in Acme Falls was prospering now- everyone in the  _ kingdom _ was. 

And, yes, it was difficult to run a kingdom at their age. But they’d done harder things, and they had support and attention and  _ love.  _ And each other. 

And everything was alright, until just a year into their rule- or was it just a few months? Who knew anymore…- when Wakko woke up one morning insistent upon visiting their circle. He didn’t know why, just had a gut feeling. Yakko let him check on his own, riding Pharfignewton to the forest while he went over a few new trade deals, joking with the council to make them feel more comfortable, and then playing with Dot in the gardens, bouncing around and making witty comments at each other until they were laughing on the ground. 

Then Wakko came back. Yakko and Dot met him at the gate, and he looked at them with very worried eyes. 

“Something’s up with our circle.” was all he said. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next, final chapter: "I can't believe it's been twenty-two years!"


	6. Things it Yearns to Remember...

The circle was dying. 

It was going slow, so they definitely had time. But the grass was starting to turn brown, the mushrooms shriveling. There was some kind of odor, and the air around it was almost… still. Suffocating. 

The siblings held a meeting in their usual place- upside-down in the soldiers’ training barracks. (They at first had been afraid someone would disapprove of that, but it turned out their father used to study the same way…) 

“It’s definitely the other side. We’ve been tending to the circle right.” Dot said, after they went over what Yakko remembered their parents telling him to do and what they’d read up on circles once they got access to the castle library. 

“We weren’t able to find our circle last time. We had to go home through another.” Wakko reminded her. 

“It was part of that forgetting thing.” Yakko muttered, running his hands through his hair as he swung by his feet, recalling something they’d all found reassuring in an ancient journal stowed in secret shelves. “We didn’t have enough training.” 

“But we’re not trained enough now, either.” Dot pointed out. “We’ve been practicing, yeah, but alone. None of our people have shown up at all.” She fell quiet, and then asked, “Are we sure there  _ are _ others left?” 

“There have to be.” Wakko muttered, but none of them were convinced. 

They glanced at each other, and then Yakko said, “We don’t have a choice. When a circle dies… well, it doesn’t go well for us,  _ or _ the land around us.” 

“Kickstarts a chain reaction of dying circles.” Dot remembered. “One after the other…” 

“Til the world goes boom!” Wakko said, throwing out his arms and promptly falling from the bars he had been resting on and landing flat on his face. 

Once he made it back up and started swinging by his tail, Yakko said, “We can leave Brain in charge. He’ll like that, we just have to make sure he doesn’t start any wars while we’re gone. We can’t deal with that at this point in our reign.” 

“He won’t, he’s careful like that.” Dot pointed out. 

“And we won’t be gone long.” Wakko said. 

Yakko stared at the ground. “That’s what I said last time.” 

“Hey.” Dot swung over, putting a hand on his shoulder as best she could. “You know it wasn’t your fault. We talked about this.” 

“Still-” 

“We’ll be more prepared this time.” Dot said. “Take things with us- notes, journals, stuff to remember home by. We’ll set up shop back at the studio and sneak around when the cameras are off.” 

“How long do you think it’s been for them?” Wakko asked, fiddling with his shirt. 

“Probably years.” Yakko said. “Hope Scratchy isn’t too upset we missed our appointments.” 

Dot bit her lip. “I can’t remember what times we were supposed to go.” 

“Well, when we remember, we’ll just show up again. I’m sure he’s still there. Sure he misses us, too, like our Scratchy did.” 

“Didn’t they keep trying to lock us up?” Wakko asked, straining his memory. 

“Yeah, but they stopped being able to hold us.” Dot reminded him. “I think we just got too powerful.” 

“That might be it. We got old enough to start using our magic well.” Yakko considered. 

“And if they try to do it again, we’ll blow up the whole lot til we find the circle.” Dot suggested. 

“Oh, I don’t wanna do that! They got upset when the studio was a mess.” Wakko said. He really did hate making people sad. 

“Well, we gotta do  _ something.”  _ Yakko said. “Need I repeat myself, but if our circle dies, we’re all screwed. The Kingdom should be good while we’re gone…” 

“But will we?” Wakko asked. 

Yakko was silent, but Dot once again said, “We’ll be prepared. So even if we forget, we remember our mission, we get our circle cleared, and then we can go back home.” 

And so it was decided; they had to leave quickly, not knowing how long they’d have before the circle got worse. They gave Brain a heads-up, informed their friends from Acme Falls that they’d be going to do Fae Things, and they promised they’d be fine, and gave everyone lots of hugs, and then set off. 

They brought a bag with them, which they hid under Wakko’s hat in case they got grabbed as soon as they landed and their mysterious bag confiscated. It had what they needed- a few trinkets from home, Wakko’s sketches of the family portrait, and scattered journal pages and notes. Reminding them where they needed to go, what they needed to do, what exercises to do to keep their memories refreshed. 

And so they hopped into the circle, and emerged at the edge of the Warner Bros Studio Lot. 

They hesitated a moment, looking towards the booth that marked the entrance, waiting for memories to catch up to them, and then waiting for someone to come out and either hug them or shove them into a net. Neither happened, so they looked around. Wakko spotted a television in a window, stating the date- “Wow! We’ve been gone twenty-two years!” 

“Heh, bet ol’ Plotzie hasn’t made it this far.” Yakko said, before running his finger across his throat. Dot punched him in the arm for that, and then Yakko pointed out, just beside the booth, some cameras. Probably for security, but maybe, just maybe… 

“Reboot?” Yakko whispered. 

The siblings put their hands into a pile, and then threw them up at “Reboot!” 

They grabbed hands, remembering how much  _ fun _ it was to be on set, and skipped across the street, pausing at the yellow line before the entrance to the studio lot. Yakko cleared his throat, glanced to the cameras for a moment, and then announced, “Alright, guys, there’s a  _ lot _ of pressure on our first lines! They gotta be funny, they gotta be irreverent, and most of all, they gotta be carefully crafted.”

“But you just wasted yours on-” 

So, yeah, they had a bit of a sibling squabble. But it ended once the clouds cleared and they saw their tower again. And maybe it was because of the forgetting, or because they really had made a home out of what was intended to jail them, but they were overjoyed to see it. 

It was a bit difficult, getting back into the swing of things. They had a new CEO who didn’t seem to give them much attention, but she agreed to the reboot, liking the idea of appealing to nostalgia. It was just them and Pinky and the Brain, pretty much the only cast members who weren’t currently occupied with other jobs (or mysteriously missing), but that was apparently enough. And there was a lot of new technology and insane politics, but after swallowing a certain tablet, Yakko was able to catch them all up pretty quick. It was going to take a while to get fully back into their groove, but it was enough- if they were working here, they could live here, and do as much searching as they could. 

And they did, really. The cameras were on a lot more than they’d remembered, probably because cameras had been updated over the last twenty-two years. But they managed to hook up an alert in their tower, letting them know when they were safe to go, and they’d duck behind buildings, and let Wakko do the searching. 

Wakko, they’d figured out, was the closest in connection to their circle; he had some kind of sixth or seventh sense about it, and though he was having trouble tracking it beyond the reach of “nearby,” he was able to feel certain swings from it- “It’s doing well today,” he’d say sometimes, or maybe, “I think it needs water. Maybe it should rain soon. It’s not gonna rain soon? Let’s flood the lot, that should do it.” 

He had some other feelings, too. “I think maybe it’s been a day in the Kingdom.” he mentioned, after they’d finished filming some episode or another. 

“Wow, really?” Dot asked. 

“Maybe a little less.” 

“Time really is messed up between these places.” Dot said. 

“It speeds up and slows down.” Wakko shrugged, before flopping onto the couch they’d fit into the tower. 

It was sometime after finishing filming of the first season, or maybe the second, that they were starting to feel the forgetting coming on again. They did the exercises, reminded each other of what to do, flipped through journals and re-wrote what they found, remembering that no matter how long they were here, they had a mission to do, and they couldn’t fail this time. But they really hoped it wouldn’t take long- while they were having fun here, happy to be in their second home and causing a bit of ruckus, they knew that there was a place they belonged more. Where people understood them, and they understood other people, where they had work to do, and lives to live of their own. A family to return to- both the one they’d found over the years, and the one lost to them, but of which traces still lingered in the halls of the palace and the sway of the trees. 

And they really,  _ really _ did not want to forget them. 

Because when things started slipping- the layout of the castle, the way the water would fall in the town square fountain- they started falling into old habits again. Dot would realize she didn’t remember what color flowers she grew in the garden, and she’d throw herself at someone, desperate for attention, positive or negative, so that she knew she was still seen, nobody had forgotten  _ her _ again. Wakko would forget to add something in his recent re-sketch of the family portrait, and he’d run to the nearest meeting area and eat a conference table to quell his nerves, stop feeling so jumpy and upset. And Yakko… well, sometimes it wasn’t even the slow amnesia that caused his issues, but he really didn’t want to address that now. He just wanted to keep talking. If he kept talking, and people kept laughing or groaning and  _ seeing _ him, then he was still worth something. 

_ Just keep seeing me, please. _

_ I don’t want to be alone. _

It was sometime halfway through the second season, when they were falling asleep in their new bed setup- Yakko in a ballpit under Dot’s loft, while Wakko slept on a hammock beside them, they thought that was fitting- and Dot asked Yakko and Wakko to come cuddle with her for a bit. They did, curled up in a sibling pile atop her bed, and then she said, “Yakko?” 

“Hmm?” 

“Tell me the story.” 

He jumped. “What?” 

“I know it’s been a while,” she muttered, “Cause we stopped after the- the whole ‘wish’ thing, but… I don’t want to forget it again.” 

“Dot…” 

“I  _ can’t _ forget it again.” 

Wakko whimpered a little beside him, adding his support. Yakko sighed, and wrapped his tail around his brother and his sister, putting an arm over them, and mumbled, just loud enough that they could hear and feel safe, “Once upon a time, a brave knight married a beautiful princess, and they had two sons. But they wanted a daughter, too…” 

He kept on, talking and letting his voice carry through the tower, all of them hoping that repeating the story would keep it fresh, would help them remember. Remember home, remember who they’d left behind, and what they’d learned there, and even here, over the years. Remember that they were worth something after all, to others as well as to themselves. 

And of course they had to remember their mission. They just had to find their circle, somewhere on this lot. 

And as Yakko finished his story, the three siblings, falling asleep on top of each other, they had no idea that the circle they’d been looking for, for the last several decades, was buried right beneath them. 

Maybe there was a reason that tower always felt like home… 


End file.
